TeraRecon Rolls Out Vascular Analysis Tools

TeraRecon recently released AQPlaque, a suite of vascular analysis tools designed to allow researchers to investigate and evaluate a range of parameters from CT or MR images of vascular structures including coronary arteries, as a standard feature for Aquarius Workstations or the AquariusNET thin-client software.

AQPlaque is integrated into the vascular analysis package and provides tools to delineate the vessel outer wall versus surrounding tissue and lumen. A set of HU or intensity ranges can then be defined to visually delineate different structures (for example, potentially corresponding to calcified plaque, healthy wall, contrast-enhanced lumen and lipid-rich core), and volumes are reported for each delineated data range.

On the AquariusNET thin-client software, the AQPlaque toolkit extend the analysis to production of a histogram of voxel values along the defined section of vessel, raising the possibility for a researcher to identify voxel population peaks corresponding to healthy wall and lumen, and to observe potential shift and broadening of these peaks in the presence of disease. Luminal area and vessel cross-sectional dimensions can be readily reported for comparison with angiography and intravascular ultrasound.